A MOMENT'S HOLIDAY
by The Several
Summary: My first and probably only Christmas fanfic! Max and Monica share their first Christmas together. A little long, oneshot fluff all the way. [DONE]


**A MOMENT'S HOLIDAY**

_Dark Cloud 2_ Fanfic

By The Several

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**Author:** _Finally! My first holiday fanfic! Thanks to_ **Oracle Master** _for giving me the Christmas fanfic instead, although I don't know why._

_Oh, and in this fanfic, Monica IS older than Max, just so you know._

_I think it's best reading this while playing the music_ "Interrupted by Fireworks" _from Final Fantasy VII. You can find it on_ **vgmusic-dot-com** (had to spell it like that because it keeps getting erased for some strange reason whenever I type it with a real period and com) _under PS1 games. If you don't want to, then that's your loss. In case you decide to, play it on the section where it says to._

_No, I'm not endorsing anything. Nor do I own Dark Cloud 2 or FFVII for that matter._

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Since the defeat of the Dark Genie in the Zelmite Mines, relations between the present (Max's time) and the future (Monica's time – 100 years forward) had been strengthened.

People from the future go back in time using the Ixion to learn more about the world's past and history.

In turn, the people from the present get to know when certain natural disasters will strike – without revealing too much from the future.

The story starts one morning, a day before Christmas itself.

"Max? Hey, where are you?" Monica calls out to Max as she walks around town looking for him. The crisp cold weather was certainly a sign of winter, but so far, no snow had fallen from the sky. For many, snow was a blessing from the sky, as it brought joy, laughter, and maybe even a few pranking ideas for those snowball throwers. But alas, it looked like there was going to be no snow this year.

The time travel system in both the train and the Atlamillias either take people back 100 years or to the future 100 years exactly. That means that no time of the day is lost; 9:00AM in the present, 9:00AM in the future.

She had just come from the future using the Ixion. The moment she got off, it was an immediate hunt for the young inventor.

Monica walks around the town, admiring the trees that have lost all their leaves since Fall. She stops by to see Milane – the weapon shop owner who have helped them so much in their journey together across the world.

"Hey, Milane," she greets with a wave as she enters the shop's doors.

"Well, if it isn't Monica!" Milane greeted from behind her counter. "How have you been?"

"Fine, thanks" she replies. She then gets straight to the point. "… Have you seen Max?"

"I haven't seen him either," Mena said from out of nowhere as Monica's heart nearly literally jumped out of her.

"Gaaaaahhh! Mena! Where did you come from?" Monica said trying to catch her breath. Her breathing was still fast from the surprise she got.

"That's not the question, is it? The question is… Why are you looking for Max?" She winks at Monica, and Monica blushes to the side.

"W… What's wrong with looking for him? For your information, I just wanted to invite him for a carnival in my time."

"Oooh, a carnival! As in… a date?" Milane asked jokingly.

"A-A… What? It's not a date! It's only reasonable to ask him. He's my friend after all…"

"I'm your friend but I don't see you blushing when you hear people mention my name," Milane replied. Mena and Milane laughed, as Monica grew redder and a heck of a lotangrier.

"F-Fine! If you're not gonna tell me where he is, then I guess I'm going to have to look for him myself!" Monica declares in a higher tone of voice as she stomps out the store. Before she gets outside, Mena gives another comment.

"Go ahead, lover! Go tell us about your date when you're done!" Mena and Milane laughed again, making Monica totally embarrassed and annoyed.

She goes back to face them again. "What are you talking about? We're just friends!"

Milane grins at her, and she gulps to what she was about to say. "If you were just friends, you wouldn't be blushing about it." Monica crosses her arms and grunts, but it didn't hide the redness in her cheeks.

Mena moves in closer to her and whispers to her ear. "So you like younger men, huh?" She then releases from Monica and sighs. "I can't blame you. He IS cute…"

"And smart, and funny, and innocent, and charming," Milane added.

"And he's sooooooo sweet too!" Mena said with an overacted expression in her face while doing 'kissy-lips' to Monica that made Milane laugh.

"That's it, I'm leaving!" Monica shouted, and finally continues her stomp outside the door. Even from the outside, she could hear Milane and Mena laughing out loud.

"Those nuts…" Monica said to herself. She then walks towards Cedric's place to see if Max was there.

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"Hey, Mr. Cedric," greeted Monica with a smile.

"Hey, lass!" Cedric greeted back as he looked up from where he was fixing the ridepod. "Haven't seen you in a while… Why are you so red?"

Monica slaps herself silly and laughs. "Hahahaha… Uh, It's nothing…"

Cedric was dumbfounded by her weird reply. "You sure? You look a little flustered…"

"It's nothing," Monica said with a more serious face. She sighs and says, "It's just that Mena and Milane was teasing me about Max and stuff… By the way, have you seen him?"

"He's over at the pond near the mines," replied Cedric. Monica nods and was about to leave to leave to where Max was when Cedric suddenly talked.

"Uh, about Max… I want to talk about something…"

Monica grunts angrily. "You too? Jeez, can't you give it a rest al—"

"That's not it," Cedric interrupted, his eyes stared fixatedly at Monica. Monica looks back, and could tell that Cedric was being serious as well.

Cedric then continues working on the ridepod as he spoke. "I know you like Max… I don't even know why you try to hide it anymore. It's so obvious."

Monica's face flustered with enough redness to make a tomato seem orange.

"The thing is…" Cedric paused, and then sighed. "…It's better if you stay away from Max."

"W-What? What kind of stupid advice is that?" Monica replied, surprised.

"It's not advice, lassie… It's more of a suggestion." Monica was confused at what he was trying to say.

"The thing is… You know you're from the future, right? That means you can't be together with Max. That just has to be it."

"So…" Cedric continued as he began working on the ridepod again. "It's better if you look for somebody else."

"He's right, you know," Donny said as he arrived from the back. "I know you and Max are tight, but I don't want to make Max sad by seeing him set up with someone from the future."

He pauses to see Monica looking at the ground, unable to see her eyes. "Besides, Max isn't the only guy out there. I'm sure a perfect guy's out there waitin' for ya in your own time period—"

Monica looks up suddenly, making Donny stop. "I'm not here looking for 'mister perfect,' I came to see Max," she declared. She began walking out the door. "I know there are a lot of guys out there who just might be better than Max, and my heart might say so too." She opens the door, and looks back at the two men.

"…But it's not my heart that's choosing, it's me… and I choose Max." She closes the door from behind her and the Cedric and Donny stopped for a moment of silence.

"Heh, the lass's more mature than I thought…" Cedric said loudly to himself.

"She's just stubborn. Why would Max choose her over all the other nicer girls out there?" said Donny as he decided to walk back to where he was working in the back.

Cedric said without looking at him, "Do you know the difference between her and all the other girls out there that like Maximilian?"

Donny turned around. "No…… What?"

Cedric turned around to face him, and smiled. "… Max likes her back."

"No way! You're kidding!" Donny said, surprised.

"I'm not. But unfortunately," he said as he turned around to face what he was working on. "…Max likes everybody so much, that he can't determine the difference between who he likes… and who he really loves."

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"Max! Hey, Max!" she shouts cheerfully at him as she waves her hand from far away. Max, who was fishing by the lake, waves back.

"Monica? Hey, Monica!" Max stands up and whips back his fishing pole. He runs over to Monica and greets, "Hey, Monica! Haven't seen you in a long while."

"Good morning, Max! Merry Christmas!"

Max laughs. "Oh yeah, I forgot! Merry Christmas to you too."

As she looks at him laughing, she remembers what Milane and Mena were teasing her about, and looks away with a red blush on her cheeks.

"Uh, anything the matter?" Max asked, oblivious to the facts.

"Um, I was wondering…" Monica blushed some more as she tried to just finish her sentence. "…It's Christmas tomorrow, right? Um, I wanted to invite you to my time for the Christmas carnival… if that's alright, that is…"

Monica looks up to him and sees him smiling. "A carnival? That's great! Of course I'll go!"

"Great!" Monica said happily. "I'll meet you at the train station at 9 later then."

"Okay! See you later then!" He waves as Monica left. As he sees her go farther away, a sudden smile arose from his face… and maybe a little blush too.

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At 9 o'clock, Max and Monica arrived at the future – Monica's time – using the Ixion. It was nearly Christmas Eve, and still, no snow had rained.

They were dropped off at the station of the future Palm Brinks, and Max wonders at the sight he beheld.

"Wow…" Max stared in awe at the marvelous place he sees that will be the future of Palm Brinks.

"That's right, you've never been here, have you?" Monica said to him, smiling.

"No, I — Wow… Times sure have changed," he said as he looked around in every building. The bakery, the police station, the store… Everything was so foreign to him.

"Well, it HAS been a hundred years. No duh," Monica replied laughing.

Max looked back at her with a smile. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to that carnival!"

Max and Monica ran over to where the carnival was, which was only directly outside the town. Max and Monica gazed as huge rides, games, movies, food, and many other things were set up.

"I heard there was going to be a beautiful fireworks display later at midnight, right at the time when the clock strikes for Christmas Eve," Monica says.

"That's still hours from now, so let's have some fun! Where do you want to go?"

Monica thought for a minute then said, "How about all of them?"

"Great, then let's start!" Max exclaimed as he grabbed Monica by one hand and gently pulling her towards the nearest booth they could find.

For several hours, they went all around the carnival, having as much fun as they possible could. The shooting range, the cotton candy, the arcade games, and every other possible ride that can be mentioned in Max's time or in the future were played by the two heroes of time. They won a lot of prizes too, and as the date, Monica got to keep most of them.

Well, she won most of them anyway. Max sucked at some of the games.

"Wow, I can't believe I got all this," she said, carrying a load of stuffed animals and a lot of other carnival prizes that were so many, she had to carry them in a plastic bag.

"You were great! You won a lot of prizes in the games. I just sucked," Max said with a laugh.

"That's not true. You were an expert marksman when we played that shooting game. Besides, you haven't even played most of these games yet because they weren't invented in your time yet."

"Yeah, I guess… But to tell the truth," Max replied with a scratch to the head. "…I was hoping to win some for you."

Monica blushed with surprise. "Um, well… you did. I mean, a lot of this stuff you won too, you know."

They both paused for a second, and then they laughed.

Monica looks at her watch. "Oh, it's almost time already? The fireworks display is about to start!"

Max looks up to the sky. "Let's use the Ferris Wheel to see it clearer then. C'mon!" Max and Monica ran to the base of the Ferris Wheel and got in one of the passenger pagodas (the seats), as they looked into the sky and waited for the fireworks to begin.

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(cue-in dramatic music)

The pagodas began moving upwards and round, as the Ferris Wheel ride began to move in a circular motion.

Inside, Max and Monica waited for the fireworks to begin. It was such an awkward moment, that neither person said anything for minutes, as they waited for the fireworks display. Then, Monica finally spoke:

"Max?'

"Yeah?" he said as he looked outside and viewed the magnificent future that was about to come for Palm Brinks. It made him happy knowing that Palm Brinks was there for years to come, and was as amazing to behold and as strong as it could be as it ever was before.

"I… I wanted to thank you," Monica said reluctantly.

"Whatever for?" asked the confused Max.

"For… For everything."

"Like what?"

"You know… like helping me save the world from the Dark Element. I was really surprised… When I met you and told you about what you and I had to do, you didn't ask too many questions… You didn't argue… you just… did it."

"……"

Monica chuckles a little, but there was a little flicker in her eyes – its meaning unknown.

"What I'm trying to say is… how could you do that? You just agreed to what I needed to do, and well…"

"Monica… I agreed with you because I knew I could trust you. Even though I had never met you before, my heart said that if I followed you, I could find my mother."

"And also," Max continued. "I did it for my own reasons. I never met you before, so I wanted to trust you. And for the time that we shared together in those adventures, I have to say…"

"…I really trust you."

Shots of light erupted from the ground to the everlasting sky. Sparks of colored lights filled the sky, as the fireworks made a magnificent display in the background of the pagoda the two passengers were in. It was Christmas Eve.

Monica and Max looked to the side of the pagoda in awe as the magnificent display of fireworks made dazzling forms and figures in the sky. They stared at the beautiful sky set ablaze, and then they looked towards each other. They chuckle a bit, and then laughed at all the fun they had that day.

"Actually, I was going to thank YOU…" Max spoke.

"What for? I didn't do anything."

"Like you said… for everything."

They smile, as more lights came to view beyond their background that gave awestruck viewers a sight to behold.

Monica looks to the side, as does Max – as he gently holds her hand.

Their hands held each other tightly, as if not wanting to let go.

Just then, snow suddenly but weakly fell from the sky – as if a blessing from the heavens by an angel of peace. In both eras – Max and Monica's – the snow fell like a miracle and at the same time… as if the two worlds melded as one.

"Look! It's snowing…"

"Yeah…"

They smiled at each other one more time, and then gazed into the starlit sky – as their future was secretly written in the stars – a sign of things to come.

A beautiful melody, and a future where the stars are always bright and the darkness would never overcome where they held.

A future – where the fireworks always shined brightly for the two of them.

**THE END**

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**Author:** _Whoa... That... was so beautiful... I have to cry! Waaa!_

Ahem!_ Kinda… fluffy would you say? Kinda 'cottony' too, if that's ever a real word. If it is ever turned into one, you heard it first from me. So what do you think? Review please!_

_And thanks to_ **Pug Dragon** _for the inspiration, because my next fanfic will be about Gerald and Elena! How they met, what happened, the previous Atlamillia owners, how they got separated, and when the town of Palm Brinks was shut down so no one will be able to go to the outside world. I'll start it as soon as possible!_


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